March 27, 2005 Communities and Vision
I have spent a great deal of time this weeking thinking about communities of practice, their roles in education, and the imact that can occur as a result of them. This line of thinking always leads me back to the concept of vision. It's difficult for a community of practice to innovate and transform in a workplace where vision is lacking. How important is vision for a dispersed faculty? How important is vision for a division that lacks a strong guidelines and policies? I think that a CoP for a faculty is a great catalyst for change and that once the faculty is capable of sustaining a CoP then this should move to the students. I believe that students can learn a great deal about leadership from participating in a community of learners. This is a more natural environment and sets up an atmosphere similar to The Met.
Why I am thinking about vision again? Well, I've crafted a vision for my division, however, while I do believe in the vision that I've created and will use it to guide my actions within the division, I don't believe that it's the vision that I am meant to craft--i dont' believe that it's my personal vision. I have spent the best part of this day trying to define my own personal vision. As of yet, I haven't found it yet. I have lots of ideas and I'm passionate about so very many things related to education. But, I haven't found the common thread that ties them. I think that my work with CoPs will play a part on that vision. I continually return to my service learning project idea and think about how that could be turned into another action research project and eventually into a movement within schools to provide some of what is missing in today's environment of high stake testing.